In The Eyes
by RC Mason
Summary: Sasuke did nothing as Hinata climbed into his bed, settling herself  in a comfy position next to him. But why should he? They've been living  together since his family's massacre, since the Hyuuga have taken him in.  SasuHina.
1. Initio

Disclaimer: I only own this story. But nothing else.

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><p><strong>In The Eyes<strong>

_By RC Mason  
><em>

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><p>'<em><strong>You must e'en take it as a gift of God; though it's as dark almost as if it came from the devil.'<strong>_

**Wuthering Heights**

**Chance (_n._)**

**1. An unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that causes an event to result one way rather than another**

**2. A risk involving danger**

**3. Fate**


	2. Promise

Disclaimer: I only own this story. But nothing else.

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><p><strong>In The Eyes<strong>

_By RC Mason_

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><p><strong>[The Past]<strong>_**  
><strong>_

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><p><strong><em>~ Promise ~<em>  
><strong>

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><p>The pale silver light from the full moon trickled through the softly billowing curtains, illuminating the painting of a red and white fan on the opposite wall. It was the only ornament in the otherwise plain room and the current fixation of the only occupier in it.<p>

Black bangs obscuring most of his face and a well-worn kunai twirling idly in his calloused fingers, the boy lay in his bed, an arm tucked behind his head as he surveyed the ancient crest of his fallen clan. The red portion of the fan seemed to glow in the darkness, a welcome rarity in a house pervaded by white and grey hues. Red was his blood, his vengeance, his eyes … It reminded him that he was the last Uchiha, though living in the house of the Hyuuga.

There was a shuffle outside his bedroom, and Sasuke instinctively tightened his grip on his kunai. It was a reflex, a reflection of the fact that, despite the years, he still did not truly feel at home in his abode, not in the same way as his first home where the smell of cinnamon and sage that marked his mother's delicious cooking drifted through the airy rooms, enveloping like a comforting hug.

The knob on his bedroom door turned and Sasuke straightened up in his bed. It occurred to him then that he should hide the kunai, lest the sight of him playing with a weapon alone at night add fire to the already rampant distrust around him (_'Didn't you hear that, in the middle of the night, his brother …'_), but it was too late and the door opened. A small figure clad in pure white nightgown stepped into his room.

'I can't sleep,' said Hinata, closing the door behind her.

Sasuke did nothing as Hinata climbed into the bed, settling herself in a comfy position next to him. She neatly tucked the grey covers under her chin and fluffed up the pillow. Though they could still fit quite comfortably in the single bed, Sasuke's back was pushed against the hard wall, something that he did not notice when they were younger.

_A stunning flash of lightening against the black sky. Thunderstorm. Raindrops like kunai hammering his window. The memory of the blood that seeped in puddles around his feet, rain splattering crimson everywhere. Face pressed hard against the pillow, trying not to scream or cry._

_Suddenly, a warm body beside his own, a gentle hand on his shoulder. Moments pass by, his breathing becomes calmer, more controlled, and finally …_

'_I wasn't scared, you know.' He does not look at her. _

_Not a beat missed. 'I know. I hate being cold too.'_

Sasuke placed his head against the pillow, the strands of her hair tickling his nose. He breathed in her unique smell of lavender and decided that there was at least one thing in the Hyuuga household that could make him feel at home.

Suddenly, Hinata turned around, her large white eyes catching his dark stare.

Their gentle breathing pervaded the room until she spoke.

'I would have come to see you earlier, when I heard that you were back. But Father - he wanted to keep me back for more training, since tomorrow our-'

'I understand,' said Sasuke. 'It's nothing. I'm fine now.'

Hinata propped herself on her elbow to survey him closer. Her short dark blue hair was ruffled at the back, sticking up in a way that, Sasuke thought with amusement , was very much like his own.

'It was very brave of you to protect Naruto like that,' Hinata said.

Sasuke stiffened. He hated the soft look that came into Hinata's eyes whenever she talked about Naruto. It irked him for some reason, and Sasuke decided then that any redeeming qualities that he might have held about Naruto were conceived under completely delusional circumstances – not helped at all by the proliferation of drugs that were pumped into his system upon his return from the mission.

'Clearly I wasn't thinking properly,' Sasuke said roughly, pressing his head deeper into the pillow with a greater force than necessary.

'Weren't you?' Hinata said with a small smile on her lips. 'Kiba told me about how Naruto's planning to buy you a year's worth of ramen as a thank you present.'

'Hn,' said Sasuke, abruptly realising how annoying Kiba was too. He, like Naruto, had a mouth that was too big for his own good. He was grateful that Hinata wasn't like them - despite the large amounts of time that she was around them. 'I think you spend too much time training with Kiba,' Sasuke said suddenly.

'Why not?' Hinata said in surprise. 'He's part of my team!'

Sasuke grimaced at this. He had never liked the fact that Hinata was placed in different to team to him. The thought of being too far away to protect her made his jaw clench.

'You're better than him anyway, like training with him is going to help,' Sasuke said shortly.

'But that's the whole point to training with our teams,' Hinata insisted. 'We are all different and we can learn from each other. The other day Kiba did this amazing taijutsu with Akamaru and he showed me how to …' Seeing Sasuke's face darken, Hinata changed tack. 'Anyway, it'll be like me asking you not to train with Sakura for an example.'

'Nothing wrong with that,' Sasuke muttered. Sakura was always all over him and watching him, like a hawk, constantly aware of his every action, even the unconscious things that he wasn't himself aware that he was doing. In spite of her behaviour that tread the fine line between adoration and downright stalking, she didn't understand him.

Hinata smiled. 'Sakura likes you. So be nice to her. She's kind … and pretty too.'

'One word,' Sasuke said. _'No_.'

Sasuke rolled over to face the wall, greatly annoyed for some reason at the direction their conversation was taking. He closed his eyes and tried to block out the riling thoughts that were flitting through his mind. It wasn't often that conversations with Hinata were like this – in fact, Hinata was one of the rare people that he actually _looked forward_ to talking to (most people, on the other hand, tended to provoke dormant homicidal inclinations on his part).

Often words weren't necessary at all; they understood each other well enough to do without.

A breeze ruffled through the room, prying itself from the small gap in the window that Sasuke had left ajar. This was followed by a further pause before Sasuke heard a very small voice say from behind him,

'_I was worried for you, Sasuke.'_

His eyes opened. She had said it so quietly that, had she waited a few more moments as sleep took over him, he would have missed it and thought that he only heard it in his dreams. He turned over again to watch her. Her white eyes, shining in the moonlight, were wide open, looking at the ceiling above.

Sasuke didn't speak, waiting for Hinata.

'I- I heard that you were dead,' she said. 'Then they said that you were put in a death-_like_ state, and I didn't know whether I felt any better. But … you came home, and I guess that's all that matters.'

She swallowed, and Sasuke realised that her shining eyes more than just the moonlight. He looked away. It had been long time since he had shed tears; the last time that anything had moved him to such a response was the massacre of his family. If he meant that much to her …

'I'm alright,' Sasuke said quietly. 'Really, I'm fine. There's nothing for you to worry about.'

'How did it feel?' whispered Hinata. 'To be put in that death-like trance?'

Sasuke considered this. 'Nothing new,' he said finally.

Hinata turned towards him, finding their hands underneath the sheets and giving Sasuke a surprisingly strong squeeze. 'I was so scared, you know. What I felt … it makes our chuunin exams tomorrow seem so easy in comparison!' she tried to smile.

Sasuke studied her closely. 'You're not nervous about the chuunin exams, are you?'

Hinata turned away. She stared out the window, to the full moon surrounded by a rainbow halo in the night sky. It reminded her of the Byakugan, which, in turn, reminded her of her responsibility as the Hyuuga heir to uphold their clan pride and excel – least of all _pass_ – the chuunin exams. It was the reason why her father had been training her relentlessly for weeks, why whispers from the elders had been following her (the doubts, the misgivings, the shaking of heads) – all exacerbated by her anxiety over Sasuke's mission. Furthermore, Neji would also be competing, and Hinata bit her lip at the thought of her prodigious cousin.

Everything surrounding the chuunin exams was precisely like the moon to her, a dead rock looming over her, weighing her down, waiting to crush her all.

'You're going to do well,' Sasuke's voice broke, loudly, through her thoughts.

She stared at him, startled. His candid confidence was déjà vu from so many years ago.

'_Why did you let him win?'_

_She had been beaten, sitting on the ground, her back against the wall where she thought nobody would discover her crying over her last humiliating defeat by Neji. Yet … Sasuke still managed to find her. He stood against the wall, watching her with impassive eyes._

'_Wh- what do you mean?' she choked. He must have seen everything then. She didn't know what was worse – her actual defeat or the fact that Sasuke saw it._

'_You hesitated. You could have made the final strike, but you didn't. _Why_?'_

_Hinata closed her eyes. The visions flashed before her. The blaze of bright light. Her mother. The fall. _

Whathaveyoudone.

'_Maybe I'm just weak,' she said softly._

_A scuffle, dirt kicked into the air. _

'_You're wrong. You're not weak at all.'_

'You have nothing to worry about,' Sasuke said. The intensity of his obsidian eyes burned like fire. 'We've been practicing together all this time. All the new techniques that we've learnt. I've seen how good you are.'

Hinata pressed her lips together in an attempt to smile. 'My father doesn't think so.'

'What would he know anyway?' Sasuke said angrily. 'He doesn't see you for what you are-' Sasuke cut himself short, biting his tongue. A calmer tone. 'Anyway, _I _wouldn't have been as good as I am now if it weren't for you.'

Hinata's eyes widened. 'Wh- why would you say that?'

The corner of Sasuke's lips quirked. 'Don't you remember?'

_Fist slammed against the wall in frustration. Resounding like a crack in the tranquil garden, sending birds to flight in alarm._

'_They won't teach me the Hyuuga techniques! Said that it wouldn't be _appropriate, _that I'm not one of _them_.' Words spat out. Bitter as vile. Then it dawned. Implications. 'But how- how would I get any better if I don't learn new techniques? How am I supposed to defeat _him_, avenge my c- c-' He choked, hot angry tears threatening to spill in his eyes. _

_The silent figure behind him finally spoke._

'_I'll teach you.' Quiet, young, but determined._

_He turned to face her. _

'_You can't. You'll be defying your whole clan. For me.'_

_White eyes against black._

'_Sometimes … it's worth it.'_

'I kind of miss our secret training sessions,' Sasuke remarked. 'When the exams are all over, and we have more time, do you want to continue again? I think there's a blackberry meadow that we can use, it's not too far, just behind the forest …'

A smile reached Hinata's eyes. 'I'd like that,' she said softly. 'Perhaps I should also ask the cook for more of his red bean desserts to bring along too? I recall that, last time, there wasn't enough.' Her eyes twinkled mischievously.

Sasuke grinned, unabashed. 'It's your fault that you got me addicted to them.'

'Still, I think fifty is a bit excessive.'

'Not when you've just learnt – and been hit with – the Eight Trigrams Empty Palm.'

They looked at each other and burst out laughing. Someone in the adjacent rooms grunted in their sleep and they had to force their laughter behind pressed hands, quietening down. They fell back to the pillow, lying comfortably side-by-side, staring up at the ceiling.

An amiable silence. Hinata was beginning to settle herself into sleep, before Sasuke spoke again.

'In any case, I'm going to protect you. During the chuunin exams … and forever.'

Hinata stared at him. His gaze was fixed on the ceiling and his hands were behind his head, the very picture of nonchalance, but Hinata sensed the tension in his body.

'Is that a promise?' she asked quietly.

Dark eyes flicking to her face momentarily, then back at the ceiling.

'Yes.'

Silence.

Then, Hinata pressed her lips against Sasuke's cheek. A kiss to a brother.

'Thank you,' she said.

She turned around, snuggling deeper into the sheets. The moon was still outside, hanging over the window, but somehow it did not seem as ominous as before. She closed her eyes, relaxing into her first peaceful sleep in weeks.

In the shadows of her mind, drowsy with sleep, she thought she heard a husky voice say, a little gruffly, but very quietly,

'I missed you too.'

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><p><strong>o<strong>

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**This story is set out as a series of glimpses, both into the past and present, answering the question of what it would have been like if Hinata and Sasuke grew up together. But I also intend for each chapter to be self-contained, so if you like me and prefer one-shots, this could also be read as an one-shot.**

**Let me know if this works for you, and thanks for taking your time to read this.**

**As always, reviews are love!**

**~ RC Mason.**


	3. Words Unspoken

Disclaimer: I only own this story. But nothing else.

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><p><strong>In The Eyes<strong>

_By RC Mason_

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><p><strong>[The Present]<strong>

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><p><strong><em>1.<br>_**

**_~ Words Unspoken ~_  
><strong>

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><p>There are things about Hinata that Sasuke doesn't say.<p>

Not that words can express them anyway – like how in the mornings, when dawn is but a golden ghost that creeps through his window and casts a warm shadow over his face, he doesn't have to open his eyes to know that the gentle footsteps pattering down the corridor belong to a certain raven-haired girl, and he doesn't have to count the seconds before she bursts into his room with a 'Morning Sasuke!' and a smile on her lips, as if seeing him, tangled in the sheets and all, was enough to make _her_ morning.

He doesn't tell her that every time she does this and twirls out of his room all too soon, the sight of her long hair fanning out behind her, its darkness catching the light in the most intriguing shades of black and gold, hitches his breath and leaves him confused as to why he had been so mesmerised, so _caught_, by the simplest of things.

Instead, Sasuke feigns disinterest, almost boredom, and lets his dark hair cover his face, as well as throwing an annoyed arm to shield his eyes. Partly from the morning sun, and partly because he wants her to think that he has just woken up, that he needs her wake up call, when, in actuality, nightmares have long chased away his sleep and he had been lying in bed all this time

_(for her)._

So when he ambles down to breakfast, with a shirt half-tucked in his pants and half-buttoned, exposing the sharp outlines of his collarbone underneath, he gets another smile as well as a steaming hot cup of coffee – strongly brewed because she notices small things like that.

Today, as Sasuke takes his coffee and the caffeine begins to open his eyes, he realises that she is out of her usual attire.

She's wearing a light violet dress that skims delicately at her knees, and, compared to her shinobi gear, it makes her seem lighter than usual, almost carefree. That and the fact that she is smiling more than usual, almost flying about the kitchen as she gets her own cup of coffee and seats herself across the table from Sasuke.

She blushes under his inquisitorial stare and takes a sip of the brown liquid before she explains.

'I have a date with Naruto,' she says, unable to contain the sparkling in her white eyes. 'We're going to the flower show that's opening today.'

Suddenly, the warm coffee tastes bitter, and Sasuke forces himself to swallow it, rather than spit it out.

However, he says nothing in reply and resumes to sipping his coffee, the very picture of nonchalance. Except he finds himself staring at the cream-coloured cup in front of him instead of at her.

'I hope I haven't dressed too lightly,' she continues, a bit of anxiety coming to gild her soft voice, and she tugs self-consciously at the hem of her dress. 'It looks like it's going to be a sunny day, and I thought, well, it's spring and you can't wear pants all year long?' Her tone tilts up at the last word, like she is seeking his agreement.

'You look fine.' Curt.

'Really?' she says, and he is forced to actually look at her.

Sasuke notices how the colour of the dress brings out the subtle lavender shade in her pale eyes, giving her a gentle, pleasing look not framed by the guardedness that appears with her shinobi outfit. Instead, there is soft fabric that drapes over her curves like cascading water – and, at this, Sasuke forces himself to look away.

'Yeah.' Barely a grunt, almost non-committal sounding.

But she smiles anyway and it is here that Sasuke really thinks that Naruto is one lucky guy – and he better damn know it.

He clenches his fists under the table so Hinata can't see.

Then he says something before he can stop himself.

'Have you always liked Naruto?' he demands suddenly. 'Even when we were kids?'

The question comes to a surprise to both himself and Hinata, and before Sasuke can bite the insides of his cheeks for sounding so stupid, for _being_ so stupid, just because some dobe was-

'Yeah … ' comes Hinata's voice, softly, distantly.

Sasuke jerks his head up and studies her. She is staring far away and one hand is idly stirring the coffee with her silver spoon. There is something in her eyes that Sasuke cannot read – normally the whites are like an open canvass for him, but it is as if a veil has been drawn over them, hiding some great abyss.

'Maybe for as long as I can remember …'

The next question that Sasuke wants to demand is _'__why?__' _(actually, it is _'__why__ the __fuck__?__'_, followed perhaps by some disfiguring of the dobe's face if its charm had anything to do with Hinata's answer) but Sasuke is not stupid (unlike a certain _someone_) to ask stupid questions twice, so he lets it slide and pretends to find something fascinating in his coffee, as if he hadn't really heard, or cared to hear, Hinata's answer at all.

(_Inside, he knows the reason. __Given__ the__ choice__ between__ light__ and__ dark,__ what__ fool__ would__ choose__ the__ shadows __that__ beckon __of__ strife__ and__ ruin?)_

A small sigh, like a passing breeze, comes from across the table. Suddenly, Hinata gets up and extends an outreached hand for his coffee cup, another kind smile on her face.

'It's fine,' Sasuke says and he follows her to the sink where she rinses the cups and he towels them dry.

He notices that the scars from her last mission have still not healed completely, leaving red jagged lines across two of her fingers as if bleeding across her knuckles, and Sasuke finds this another blatant example of the incompetence of the mongrel Kiba at working effectively as a team _without __getting__ the__ rest__ of__ your __team__ members__ killed._

(Although, in a twisted logic, sometimes Sasuke wishes that Kiba had been a bit _more_ incompetent and landed himself the enviable position of dead last so that he would have been placed in Sasuke's genin team, and that Hinata, with her complementary skills, might have placed there with them, _him,_ too.)

'I better get going,' Hinata wipes her scarred hands on the green tea towel that Sasuke had been using, and slips her purse, neatly planned and placed on the kitchen counter, over a shoulder.

She reaches for the door, but stops and looks back at Sasuke, who is standing by the kitchen window. The light from the window casts a silhouette over half of his features and it makes him appear cold and withdrawn.

'What would you be doing today?' she asks.

'Training,' Sasuke shrugs. 'What else?'

He is determined to look indifferent and has already reached into his pocket to pull out a kunai for practice when he feels a pair of warm, slender arms wrap themselves around him.

Hinata's face is pressed against his rigid back when she says,

'Don't be too hard on yourself' – at this, Sasuke resists the temptation to point out that Itachi is still well and truly _alive_, and thus making Sasuke a failure by his Avenger standards – 'You should take a break sometimes.'

She hesitates.

'I know that you don't like flowers. Otherwise I would have asked you to come too.'

She says this quietly and slips it in so fluidly that Sasuke barely has time to register it before the arms around his waist tighten in a final hug and Hinata disappears out the door.

It is there, standing by the kitchen window and staring at the receding figure, that he finds the words that he could not express.

_(I can make you happy too … if you would give me the chance.)_

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><p><strong>o<strong>

**o**

**o**

**Apologies for past readers as there has been some revamping of this story. But let my muse assure you that it is all for the best, and it will fit in more nicely as we go along.**

**So how did you find it? Any questions?**

**The basic premise is that the Hyuuga took Sasuke in after his clan's massacre, and it has changed things. A lot of things.**

**In the present (and for now), Sasuke and Hinata are around 14. The canon time frame has shifted somewhat, but all will be revealed later.**

**Anyway, please leave and review and let me know what you think!**

**Lots of thanks,**

**~ RC Mason.  
><strong>


	4. Darkness

Disclaimer: I only own this story. But nothing else.

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><p><strong>In The Eyes<strong>

_By RC Mason_

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><p><em><strong>2.<br>**_

_**~ Darkness**_ ~

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><p>They have the temerity to arrive late, bringing the dobe in too.<p>

The evening sky, a dark violet-blue tinging pink where it meets the earth, casts its last cerise strands over the figures climbing, ambling, their way up the hill.

Their silhouettes face him, darkness obscuring all but the outlines of their features, but he doesn't need to see their faces to know whose arm is wrapped around whose waist, with the former belonging to a spiky-haired someone guffawing loudly in the darkness and the latter belonging to a delicate figure giggling softly alongside him. There is a third figure too, trailing, almost considerately, behind them, but at this point Sasuke is too annoyed to figure out who this might be and wills his attention back on the targets in front of him.

His kunai slashes the air and lodges itself with a violent thud into the wood. Dead centre.

The laughter fades; they veer off to the entrance of the Hyuuga compound instead of continuing on course that would have brought them face-to-face with him.

Which is just as well, because at the moment, with him slashing angrily away at the wood, he does not have anything nice to say to them, he doesn't even want to _talk_ to them to be honest.

But why then is he perking up his ears, straining to catch the wisps of their conversation and trying to judge exactly how close the stupid dobe is standing next to _her_, and, because of this, is relegating himself to easy target practice that does nothing to further his skills, as his fiftieth bulls-eye in a row attests?

_Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud._

He ignores these riling thoughts and continues to throw the kunais. With increasing force.

_Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud._

There is a howl of laughter from the kitchen and, suddenly, each of the circular targets transforms itself into a certain blonde's face. Sasuke flings the kunais faster, hitting

_THUD. THUD. THUD. THUD._

Every. Single. Damned. One.

'Sasuke?'

'What!'

He is shouting and furious, not because the last kunai strayed off-target in the last millisecond thanks to the intrusion, wedging itself into an adjacent board and striking it at such an angle that the board promptly shatters and sends wooden shards everywhere, but because Hinata's voice doesn't croon, nor would she stand so close to him, the smooth curves of her breasts just brushing the arch of his back-

(_oh__ what__ would__ he__ give__ for_ that?_)_

-which could only mean …

'Sasuke, what are you doing here all by yourself?' Sakura says, her pretty green eyes peering up at him through thick, dark lashes.

She has her hands clasped in front of her and a red skirt that rides too high up her thighs, and she is bending forward, ever so slightly, so they stand nearer than what they should be and he is given, should he choose to look down, an ample view of the cleavage of her breasts and the tops of the black lace bra that supports them.

She is looking at him, all wide-eyed and innocent, as though she just _chanced_ to find herself and, more importantly, himself in the private courtyard of the Hyuuga compound.

Sasuke sighs a long-suffering sigh and tries not to roll his eyes.

'What do you want?'

There is no point in evading her. It is times like these when he wonders why Sakura is _not _in Team 8, the tracking team, where all her honing skills indicate that she would have been a perfect candidate.

(_All__ the__ more__ reason__ to__ swap__ her__ with__ Hinata_).

'Don't look at me like that,' she giggles and playfully slaps him on the arm. 'I'm just checking up on you, like a good team mate should.' Suddenly, she grabs onto that same arm and points to the sky, now totally dark and glittering with stars. 'Isn't it a beautiful night? All the stars out and just you and me-'

He doesn't let her finish and abruptly makes his way to the Hyuuga house, leaving the discarded kunais behind and figuring he could collect them tomorrow anyway.

He hears Sakura protest behind him and the shuffle of her feet against the gravel pavement as she struggles to catch up. He quickens his pace, but leaves his face as stoic as ever. He gives silent thanks when he finds the front door unlocked and, in his haste to be away from the pink-haired girl, flings it wide open.

A sigh of relief is just on his lips when he catches sight of something in the corner.

For the first time in Sasuke's entire ninja life, he blanches.

The sight freezes him on the spot and leaves him dazed, suddenly unable to draw in breath. He feels he has been hit on the head with an invisible blade, the world around him spinning, or stunned with a powerful jutsu that renders the whole scene simply surreal.

Hinata is leaning against the kitchen counter, her fingertips white as she grips its edges, and Naruto has her face in his hands, cupping her chin gently as he leans in.

Kissing.

Naruto is kissing Hinata.

Hinata is kissing Naruto.

Shock subsiding, a new urge kicks in. An overwhelming compulsion to Chidori Naruto into smoldering ash.

'Sasuke-?' Sakura stumbles into his back just as the tiny lightning sparks fly from Sasuke's clenched fist. Her eyes widen as they peer over Sasuke's rigid shoulder. 'Oh!'

Now alerted to the fact that they have an audience, Hinata and Naruto spring apart, blushes taking bloom over both of their faces. Naruto grins sheepishly, scratching the back of his head in a very cat-like way, and Hinata nervously licks her lips.

Sasuke's eyes are automatically drawn to those lips and, suddenly, the crazy urge to pound Naruto – his best friend, his comrade-in-arms – into the ground is there again.

He is no longer aware of what is showing on his face. Disbelief? Horror? Disgust? All he knows he wants to get away, go _far_ away …

But _where?_

To go backwards would mean bumping into Sakura and probably her following him outside again, burbling over some goddamned _stars_ (which he was _definitely_ not in the mood to hear about right now).

But to go forwards would mean walking past the now official _couple_ and he didn't trust that his lightening-sparking fist would leave Naruto completely (if at all) unscathed.

At the same time, he is gripped by a desire to just stay here, to stay put on the spot with his arms crossed, and ... This is where flinging them apart also sounds like a good idea and presents itself as a viable option.

As always, Hinata finds a solution.

'Perhaps you should go home now, Naruto?' she says gently, almost shyly, as she touches him on the arm. 'It is getting late and Sasuke's very tired from training all day. You live close by to Sakura, so perhaps you can also drop her off?'

Naruto looks into Hinata's pleading eyes and nods. He makes a motion to kiss her on the lips, his farewell, but sensing the audience behind him, opts to take Hinata's delicate wrist instead, turning it upwards and then leaving a soft kiss on the tender skin thus exposed.

Hinata blushes, more furiously than ever, which brings another grin to Naruto's face and a noticeable bounce to his steps as he walks past Sasuke (playfully punching his motionless best-friend on the shoulder by way of greeting) and out into the night where Sakura is waiting for him.

The wide grin on her face exposes her intentions of extracting all the juicy details from Naruto on their way home – by force, if necessary.

They call out their good-byes, Hinata waves, and the door shuts, leaving the two of them alone in the room.

Hinata looks nervously up at him, holding one arm in another, and tries to give him a smile.

'Sorry that you should see that,' she manages to get out. 'I-'

'I bet you two had a great time,' Sasuke says and it comes out all sarcastic and biting that Hinata actually looks hurt.

A part of him kicks himself for saying that, and he feels a twinge of guilt, but he pushes it aside, so angry and fed-up with any part of him that has anything to do with _Hinata_.

'Sasuke-'

Why does she feel all guilty and exposed, as if caught in the act? She supposes that, technically, she _was_ caught in the act, but what is so wrong with kissing your boyfriend, even if he is a new one?

She cannot bear the thought of ending the night with him in a dark mood, so she tries to reach out to him.

'Sasuke…'

But he has already walked past her and up the stairs, so her hand contacts thin air and she is the left in the cold departing draft of his wake.

'Goodnight' is all he says before his bedroom door slams with a resounding thud.

And Hinata is left in the darkness, still staring at the place where there had been a boy whom she was sure that she had known like the back of her hand.

Like a brother.

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><p><strong>o<strong>

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**Thanks for all your kind reviews. It helps me update faster, spurring on my muse ;)**

**Like I said before, these are just glimpses of what-could-have-beens and can be read like one-shots, though there would be continuity between the chapters.**

**So what are your thoughts on this chappie? I don't intend for the chapters to be so dramatic, as I'm quite fond of humour myself, but I just need this to play out before working on the next scene.**

**As always, reviews are love and thanks for reading this!**

**~ RC Mason.  
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	5. Godless

Disclaimer: I only own this story. But nothing else.

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><p><strong>In The Eyes<strong>

_By RC Mason_

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><p><em><strong>3.<br>**_

_**~ Godless**_ ~

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><p>'I am leaving,' Sasuke says.<p>

It has been a month, a month since Hinata and Naru – Naru_tard_ as Sasuke now thinks of him – have officially shown the world of their no-longer-platonic feelings towards each other.

A month of Hinata and Naruto holding hands and laughing softly into the breeze; a month of Hinata and Naruto sharing secret smiles and stolen looks as they pass each other in the training halls; a month of Naruto appearing unannounced, and thoroughly unwelcome in Sasuke's unvoiced opinion, as he bursts, grinning, into the Hyuuga household; a month where making sudden turns around a corner or walking into a seemingly empty room would find Sasuke staring at the shadows of two figures locked in embrace and attached at the lips –

All in all, a month too long.

Wait another month and he'd be fifteen. Fifteen and still pathetically weak. Fifteen and Itachi still gloating.

Where is that promise now, with all its swagger and confidence? Even the burst of the spring wind, heady with pollen and smelling like spices from flora most exotic, begins to feel like a slap in the face. The wind whips his black hair about and tosses it, mockingly, into his eyes.

'_You'd be dead,' _Sasuke had said. _'Dead before I'm thirteen.' _

Sasuke remembers the choking feeling, the ice cold fingers wrapped around his throat and crushing down on his oesophagus, bringing up blood in his mouth, bad memories in his mind, and ... cruel déjà vu.

Again, the feeling of weakness – vile, thick, and cold – sweeping over and drenching him, more suffocating than what the hands on his throat could ever do, until the world around him hazes, as though he is peering through the eyes of a drowning man, and fades to peculiar shade of black. Rusty. Like dried blood.

In his last feeble grasps at consciousness, Sasuke remembers thinking – dimly, almost detachedly as if he was an overhead bystander watching a little, insignificant boy being crushed by his older brother – that Itachi had a point.

_(You are weak Sasuke)_

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><p>He would have left by the time his stitches had been removed, all traces of his injuries gone except for the freshly pink skin peeking out of faint white scars.<p>

(The hellish visions, the harrowing glimpses into a demonic world stained in blood and splattered with grotesque dark shadows, stayed with him however; it would not be for another year before he could close his eyes at night and not see the grinning mutilated faces that seemed to whisper: _Welcome … Brother_).

He already had his boots laced up, his shinobi gear sitting on the seat next to him, and one leg swung over the edge of the bed, ready to spring up, when Hinata, white-faced and wide-eyed, burst into his room and his vision was suddenly blockaded by a sea of black. But this was a good, familiar black that surrounded him, falling across the tip of his nose and onto his chest, smelling faintly of lavender and morning dew, and as soft as the finest spun silk. A more than welcome reprise from the bleached white walls that had made sleeping so exhausting and so near impossible in the hospital.

And when Sasuke found his hand patting – albeit awkwardly – Hinata's back as she buried her face into the crook of Sasuke's neck, her ruffled hair turning the most exquisite shades of black as she trembled and apologised over and over again in words that Sasuke could not quite understand (_I should have seen, I should have seen_), the forehead protector resting on top of his combat shorts, with kunais poking out eagerly of the pockets, seemed less and less of a beckoning friend, and more and more of a malevolent intruder striving to part him from all that he loved under the old ruse of honour and shame.

Sasuke felt his hand tighten over Hinata's back and he pressed her fiercely against his chest, his pale cheek brushing against the top of her hair.

_Not yet. Not now._

The metallic plate of his forehead protector glinted in the fading afternoon light – a knowing wink that he had merely delayed the inevitable. The malevolent intruder was never to go away.

The cursed seal on his neck continued to burn.

Later, there would be justifications. It was logical that he had to get stronger before he could challenge Itachi again. He was just biding his time and making his hatred strong, growing it like a patient farmer tending to his crops – though it was poison that Sasuke wanted to reap, not fruit.

But it would always end in the same thing, the same damning thought. Like a sunflower turning its head towards the sun, so innocently and naturally, Sasuke would think of Hinata, her soft smiles, her gentle looks – and suddenly all that hatred, the eden of toxic fury and smouldering rage, was gone, replaced instead by a light, tingling feeling that only later, _much _later, a wiser and more mature Sasuke would identify as

_(hope)_

Yet, hope – and its counterpart: love, as this older Sasuke would later reflect – was such an insubstantial and fleeting thing, shining brightly one minute and gone in a flash the next. A bit like the piercing rays of light after a thunderstorm, glinting gold and bold when the rain cleared but quick to disappear behind the grey clouds as they tumbled across the sky.

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><p>'I am leaving,' Sasuke says to the empty room.<p>

No-one to hear it of course, but who is to say that is his intention? Dramatic and staged departures are only for self-loving tards who have one eye at the door and the other at their audience (preferably shocked and aghast by their announcement of leaving _this very second_), with ears cocked and waiting in glee for the _enthralling_ protests and entreaties that would follow.

Rather, Sasuke's words are overflow, the brimming from his pool of thoughts unable to contain themselves within the boundaries of his mind any longer.

The walls begin to chant. _Leaving … leaving … leave … LEAVE!_

Outside, the sky is overcast and overrun with grey, rumbling clouds. It leaks a bleak, dreary hue into the interior of the parlour, staining the walls with sombre shadows.

From the window, Sasuke can see the slanted outlines of a little, steepled hut on the gentle apex of a hill.

Unlike the Uchiha, the Hyuuga are a religious people and attend to their devotions with austere piety. Sundays are especially reserved for this purpose, though try as she might, Hinata could never entreat Sasuke to visit the house of a god that he does not believe in.

_('My whole family was killed in a single night,' he said. 'Where is Justice in that?')_

At the thought of Hinata, something in Sasuke's chest unhinges, but his feet are already on the doorsteps and the wind is already there, slapping cold and laughing airily into his face.

The roses blooming crimson by the gates appear like Itachi's eyes, Mangekyo Sharigan ablaze and rising.

So as Hinata seeks her god, Sasuke seeks his vengeance. Eve had wanted the forbidden fruit, willing to give up an eternity of paradise for a single bite, but Sasuke wants the snake behind it, the snake that had whispered

_(Ye shall be as gods)_

And when one is a god, what is of the promise that came before it?

_(Thou shalt surely die)_

The cursed seal blisters, but Sasuke feels a different kind of prickle on the back of his neck when he leaves the house.

As if he is being watched.

He spins around, eyes turning from black to red in an instant, and catches sight of a tall, long-haired youth behind the wall, his own eyes white and alight with thick veins blasting at the sides.

The muscles in Sasuke's shoulders relax in the smallest of fractions and he slips the kunai back into his pocket.

'Not at church, Neji?' Sasuke raises an eyebrow.

'My father' is all the Hyuuga says. The same flat tone that Sasuke uses when he discusses his family and his non-belief.

Sasuke looks into Neji's eyes and knows that he knows. If anything, the backpack hitched over his shoulder, bulging with more items than required for any feasible genin mission, keeps no secrets.

'Spying on me all this time?' Sasuke says, not particularly concerned but needing answers.

The Hyuuga prodigy, a year above Sasuke and possibly Sasuke's match, nods. A simple tilt of the head that says: _I've never trusted you and I don't intend on starting anytime soon. _

Sasuke can read this not because he and Neji are close (the very thought makes Sasuke want to smirk), but because he is all too aware of the constancy of Neji's hawk stares. The barest frowns, the crinkle around his eyes, when he sees Hinata and Sasuke together. The tightening of his fists when Sasuke makes a motion too sudden or too close to Hinata for Neji's liking. Embraces – though more often than not initiated on Hinata's part rather than Sasuke's – turn Neji scarlet.

But the glares, the deep-set disapproving glares that bare an uncanny resemblance to those of Hinata's father, are reserved only for Hinata at the morning table when she walks in, takes one look at Neji, and can only blush furiously into her hands because she knows that Neji knows that she had visited Sasuke's bedroom in the evening.

Neji never mentions this to her father because he sees that she is too innocent and kind to get up to any … shenanigans … behind the closed doors, and there is his rule of letting sleeping dogs lie, but he cannot help but feel an _unnaturalness _in the bond that she shares with Sasuke

_(something tempting fate and destiny)_

and this is what sends him shooting piercing silver glares at her in the following morning.

The bond, however, is strong – as if Sasuke and Hinata are tied by their heartstrings – and this is what sends Neji shouting after Sasuke now, when the raven-haired ass turns his back and starts to head down the Hyuuga gates.

'So you're just going to leave?'

The upturned spikes of hair – much like the upwards-turned ass of a duck, Neji muses and, in a moment of metrosexuality that he would never admit to (and gawd forbid Ten-Ten gets word of), considers this hairdo very much inferior to his own long and sleek hair – stop just inches from the gate but do not turn around.

_Yes_, the tightly held and determined posture of the Uchiha's back seems to say. _Yes, and what the hell is it to you?_

'Damn you,' Neji says and strides to the Uchiha, his Byakugan lighting up all the different chakra points like a perverse map. One touch to those points and Sasuke is rendered a crumpled, agonised heap on the floor.

'I mean that much to you?'

Sasuke has the audacity to smirk. Neji's vision bursts into a blaze of green and he could Eight Triagrams Sixty-Four Palm Sasuke right there and then.

'Not to me,' Neji hisses and grabs the front of Sasuke's shirt. Sasuke gives him a cool look and, though he is younger, they stand eye-for-eye. 'To _her_! To Hinata! She doesn't know, does she? And you're not going to leave any explanations for her, are you?'

Something stirs in the obsidian depths. Neji feels almost a flinch under the bundle of cloth in his fist before a cold hand abruptly closes down on his wrist and jerks his hand away.

'She probably wouldn't even notice,' Sasuke says. There is the picture again: Hinata and Naruto sitting side-by-side, the swing rocks gently underneath them, and the sunset washes them in a warm, beautiful glow.

'Damn straight she will!' Neji says. There is his promise: _Father, I will protect her, as is my branch member's honour and as I shall protect your honour._

Sasuke's eyes are cold now and Neji can see the tear-drop shape of the black tomoe spiralling in the Sharigan, very much like the blood circling into his Byakugan right now.

'Time will change it,' Sasuke says. 'It has the inclination to erase.'

'You're ungrateful!' Neji shouts. 'After all these years, living with us, you just run off without so much as a word of thanks –'

'I was a charity case!' Sasuke snarls and Neji is no longer the only one with homicidal thoughts. 'I was never made to feel home – considered lower than the basest servant because apparently I did not _"earn my keep"_,' Sasuke mimicks the pompous tone of the Hyuuga elder who told him this when he was a child. 'Do you know what it feels like, Hyuuga, to have looks of condescending pity following you around, everywhere you go?'

_Yes, _Neji thinks and with slight amazement. _When my Father was sacrificed. Because he was a branch member. _Those vacuous looks that had trailed him, bespeaking pity, not from the heart but from all the wrong places. _Because _I _was a branch member. _

'And do you know what it's like, Hyuuga, to have vengeance hanging over you like a lingering ghost, knowing that your honour is at stake and that only blood can wipe the slate clean?'

_Yes … _

Sasuke's chest is heaving; he has his fists clenched and ready to strike Neji if it comes down to it. He expects Neji's furious eyes to flash silver – the tell-tale sign of his incoming attack and way too obvious, scoffs Sasuke inwardly – and for a moment, it is almost there. But the glint of the morning sun fades away and leaves Neji's eyes strangely blank. Even the veins of his Byakugan recede a little.

Perhaps blank is the wrong word for it. Neji's eyes are not blank; instead, it is as though the fury, which had brewing so dangerously close to the surface, had been siphoned out and the space filled instead with a begrudging sort of acquiescence and understanding …

White. Like an uneasy truce forged between two rivals.

Sasuke suddenly understands Neji's allegiance, and he relaxes slightly. At least a part of his worries can be placed at ease.

'You'll stop her, won't you, if she tries to go looking for me?'

A pause.

Then a curt nod downwards.

_Of course. _

A single strand of light breaks from the grey, gargantuan clouds and it streaks in a fleeting flash of gold across the diagonal of Sasuke's face, illuminating, for the briefest of seconds, a smile that had been tucked away into the corners of Sasuke's mouth.

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**Merry Christmas, fellow readers! Thought I might pop this (longer-than-usual) chapter out as a special Chrissie present for all of you ;)**

**Of course, given the festive season, the religious references could not be helped. In my mind, with the Hyuuga tendencies towards sacrifice and duty, it struck me as following more of the Judeo-Christian tradition than Buddhism, hence the reason behind any perceived anachronisms. **

**Also, there is the question of the characters' ages. I agree,** Cherrilicious Phenomena **and others**, **that at 14, the characters seem a bit young for the relatively mature activities they are engaging in, but this was a result of the constraints in the canon. I mean, we have Itachi at age 13 massacring his entire family. If that's not screwed up, I don't know what is. So, I just imagine that everyone in Naruto-land are very mature for their ages, which, by the way, I had to compress in this fanfic in order to stick fairly close to the canon and the timeskip's ages. **

**Anyway, would you be kind enough to leave a Christmas present for me in the form of a review ;) ? As always, let me know what you think (story, development, characters, writing) and any questions that you may have/ clarifications that you may need. It certainly makes writing this more interesting and helps me update faster.**

**Enjoy Christmas everyone!**

**~ RC Mason.  
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